


Things Whispered in the Dark (MadaSaku Weekend 2019)

by moor



Series: MadaSaku Week [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Drama, F/M, Mention of Death, Modern AU, Soulmate elements, Supernatural Elements, horror?, mention of car accidents, mention of hospital things, mention of missing persons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:07:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22040701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moor/pseuds/moor
Summary: MadaSaku. Modern AU. A whisper in the dark can reach further than you think.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Madara
Series: MadaSaku Week [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/460981
Comments: 6
Kudos: 79





	Things Whispered in the Dark (MadaSaku Weekend 2019)

**Author's Note:**

> AN: There is no NSFW in this fic, though it’s implied via other characters’ dialogue. I would put it at a T-rating, but if anyone feels differently, please immediately let me know and I’ll re-tag this. If you'd like to see NSFW content for this fic, comments are helpful in guiding my hand. ;)

  
“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Sakura.

Ino shook her head, pointing at the painting in Sasuke’s living room. “I’m telling you, your birthmark matches his. You need to come see.”

Glancing around their friends gathered for Sasuke’s New Year’s Eve party at the Uchiha’s large family home, Sakura tried to catch someone’s eye to make an excuse to escape Ino’s grip.

“Ino, it’s really rude,” muttered Sakura. “He’s been missing for a long time, and Sasuke said his mom was finally starting to act like herself for the first time in years—”

Ino’s brows drew together but she relented. “You had to pull the sad!Mikoto card,” she huffed.

“Everybody will end up in the kitchen soon enough,” soothed Sakura, her eyes glancing at the painting of Madara again against her best intentions. “We’ll sneak back and take a look then, okay?”

“Fine. But you need to look at it.”  
“I will.”

With Ino pacified, Sakura let out a small sigh. That had been close.

* * *

The snow outside was getting deeper the longer it fell, the temperatures dropping with it.

“Will you be safe to drive home?” asked Sasuke as Sakura put on her boots. It was close to two in the morning. The small glass of champagne Sakura had enjoyed as they rang in the New Year together had long fizzled from her system and she was looking forward to going to sleep in her own bed.

“It’s less than ten kilometers, Sasuke,” said Sakura. “If it wasn’t for the snow, I would have ridden my bike.”

“It’s the black ice I’m worried about.”

“I’ll take it easy. My phone’s fully charged,” said Sakura. “I’ll text when I get in.”

“Call,” corrected Sasuke emotionlessly.

Sakura paused as she was about to open the door. She turned to look back at Sasuke, a question on her lips.

“Please,” amended Sasuke.

A half-smile quirked Sakura’s lips.

“I’ll call,” she promised quietly, satisfied when Sasuke’s features relaxed.

“Ah.”

Sakura’s car started on the first try and she carefully made her way down the twisting drive to the main road.

Ten kilometers.

Easy.

* * *

“Fucking. Deer,” hissed Sakura, holding her bruised, bleeding head.

Her seatbelt held her in place, but Sakura struggled to focus on what was in front of her. Without warning, the deer had leapt out of the forest that bordered the right side of the road and Sakura had swerved to avoid it. It quickly devolved into a spin on the—of course—black ice on the road, and now Sakura’s car hovered precariously on an ice ridge on the precipice of the ravine on the left side of the road.

Blinking to clear her blurry vision, Sakura patted the seat beside her. Her lips pursed. Looking down, she noticed her purse had been thrown to the floor, its contents spilled across the slush-mats. Could she reach that far?  
Wincing at the pain in her chest as the seat belt dug in, Sakura leaned to the side, reaching blindly for the phone. No.

The car leaned and creaked as Sakura tried again. Still no luck.

Taking a careful breath, Sakura undid her seatbelt and tried one more time.

“Got it,” she sighed with relief.

The car lurched with a groan. Sakura’s eyes widened.

With a grind of crushing metal, Sakura screamed as her car tipped and crashed down the side of the escarpment into the ravine below.

* * *

Her hands raw, Sakura snarled as she reached for the next handhold she could find in the icy hill. Her broken leg and collarbone had her wheezing with each step, but she was determined to make it back up to the road.

“Fucking deer. Fucking ice,” she gasped, the jagged ice and rocks digging into her bloody fingers. “Fucking everything.”

“Hn,” agreed a low, velvety voice from above Sakura.

Surprised, Sakura nearly let go of the escarpment she was climbing. Thankfully, the man above her reached down and grabbed the back of her winter coat.

In the darkness it was impossible for Sakura to make out his features, but he must have been lying down on the roadside on his stomach to reach her. She was closer than she’d thought.

“Easy,” he said.

“Thank you,” said Sakura, clinging to the rockface.

“Can I give you a lift?”

“Let me get a bit higher,” said Sakura. “I hurt my shoulder.” And everything else.

“Ah.”

Sakura’s exhale was a bit choppier as she tried not to laugh. “You must be an Uchiha. You sound like my friend Sasuke.”

“Hn,” agreed the voice.

As Sakura crested the precipice, she rolled over onto her back and took deep inhales to replenish herself and rest. In the distance she made out the dim glow of windows from a cottage set just off the roadside. It was surrounded by pine trees. The cold air burned her lungs, but she’d made it.

“Would you like a ride?”

“Yes, in a second,” said Sakura, her eyes closing with relief. “I just need a second… to catch… my breath…”

It had been a tough climb. She was still in pain. Her car was in ruins at the bottom of the damn ravine. But she was going to be okay.

“Miss?”  
“Mmmm…”

“Miss?… Sakura?”  
  
Sakura’s head throbbed as she drifted off in the snow, the stranger’s voice getting further and further away in the dark.

“… were summoned back for a reason… Sakura, keep looking…”

* * *

  
  
When Sakura woke again, it was in a chilly hospital room. The thin sheet did nothing to warm her as she struggled to open her eyes.

From the corner of the room she spotted a stranger sitting in a seat, his long, dark hair hiding his face from her.

“Hello?” asked Sakura over the quiet hum and beep of the machines.

“You’re supposed to be resting,” said the man, looking up. Shadows still hid his face, frustrating Sakura.

“I don’t need to rest. Where’s my car? Was it towed out of the ravine? Did anyone tell my friends I’m okay? What hospital is this?”

The man huffed and leaned back in his seat once more.

“Think of yourself,” he muttered. “For once.”

“Jerk, who do you think you are?”

“Hmph,” muttered the man, shifting in his seat.

The lassitude crept in around the edges of Sakura’s awareness, swiftly followed by numbing darkness.

“Who do you think you are,” Sakura repeated, her words slurred as she drifted off.

The man in the chair sighed.

* * *

When Sakura woke next, late afternoon light filtered through the blinds in the hospital room and someone was holding her bandaged hands.

“Sakura?”

“Ino?”

Footsteps by the door caught Sakura’s attention as Ino pulled Sakura up into an emotional embrace.  
  
“We were so worried—”

A dark-haired man lurked by the doorway.

Wincing as she straightened, Sakura hugged Ino back and strained to see around her.

“Who’s…”  
“You didn’t call,” said Sasuke, leaning in from against the door.

Had Sakura been mistaking Sasuke for a stranger?…

“I was a little busy not dying,” said Sakura, voice rough.

“Don’t even joke about that,” snapped Ino. “When they pulled you out of the lake and you weren’t moving, I thought I was going to have heart failure.”

“Lake?”  
“At the bottom of the ravine. Your car sank beneath it. They’re going to make another attempt to drag it out tomorrow,” said Sasuke.

Sakura gently shook her head. “No, I climbed out. I was on the road. The man was there.”

Ino and Sasuke looked at each other.

“What man?” asked Ino.

“The man who brought me to the hospital, or called the ambulance,” said Sakura.

Above her, Ino sat down on the edge of the bed. She caught Sasuke’s eyes again, but Sasuke gave nothing away.

“What did he look like?” asked Ino.

“It was hard to see in the dark,” said Sakura. “He sounded a bit like Sasuke. His hair was dark, but longer and shaggier.”

“Like the man in the painting?” asked Ino carefully. Again she looked at Sasuke.

Sakura let go of Ino and sat back against the cushions.

“I didn’t imagine him,” said Sakura. Her words were terse.

“With the head injury, it could have seemed very real,” said Ino, playing devil’s advocate.

Sakura winced as her brow furrowed.   
“He seemed real, though.”

“Maybe you saw someone but the timeline got mixed up,” offered Sasuke.

“Maybe,” said Sakura, quieter now. “But why was he sitting in the seat when I woke up?”

“He was here? In your room?” asked Ino, voice higher.

Sakura nodded, confused.

A pain in her head had her closing her eyes. “Then again, all we did was argue.”

“How did the car end up in the ravine?”  
“I spun out on the ice when a deer ran out across the road,” said Sakura.

The visit lasted a little over an hour before a nurse invited Ino and Sasuke to collect their things and leave as visiting hours were ending.

* * *

When Sakura woke in the morning, the man was back.

“You’re a creeper, aren’t you,” said Sakura. She sat up carefully and reached for her water. There was more light in her room that morning and she had a much better view of the man. His long, shaggy dark hair, his hooded eyes, his muscular frame in its long trench coat and his relaxed, deceitfully indolent air had her throat tightening. She knew this man, yet she didn’t.

“How are you feeling?”

“Like I was hit by a dump truck,” said Sakura. “Other than that, pretty great.”

The man snorted under his breath before leaning to the side and resting his head on his hand, his elbow on the armrest of his chair.

“Who are you?” asked Sakura.

“You know who I am,” he said in his low, husky voice.

“Why are you here?”

“…”

“If I fall asleep again, will you disappear again?”

“Who knows?”

“You’re being a jerk again,” said Sakura.

“So you’ve said.”

“Does Mikoto know you’re here?”  
This time the man glared at Sakura, not answering.

“Show me your arm,” said Sakura, watching him carefully.

“Are you asking me to take off my shirt,” he asked smoothly.

“You’re such a dick, and yes.”

Holding his gaze, Sakura stared him down.

“You don’t fear me,” he said, curious.

“Nothing to fear from a ghost,” said Sakura.

“A ghost? Is that what you think I am?”

“Or a hallucination.”  
“So you’re saying you’re obsessed with me? I’m flattered.”

“I’m going to tell Mikoto I saw you.”

That shut him up.

Sakura arched a brow.

“She misses you,” said Sakura. “She may have only been your half-sister, but she practically raised you and when you disappeared she was devastated.”

Seething, Madara glared at Sakura.

“Everyone else is telling me I imagined you,” said Sakura.

Madra’s lips were tight as he watched Sakura.

“Are you real or not?”

“You’re asking your hallucination for validation?”

Sakura sighed, sinking back down into her pillows.

“You’re such a dick,” she muttered. She looked away from Madara and down at her own arm, covered by the sleeve of her hospital gown. “Why can’t I figure you out?”

“Maybe you’re not missing the obvious,” said Madara.

“Hm?”

“You’re pretty much sitting on top of it.”

* * *

Closing the door to her home, Sakura leaned against the door. It was dark. Ino had given her a ride home from the hospital, and Sakura had wisely decided not to say another word about being visited by Madara again.

“You’re sure you’re okay on your own for the night?” Ino had asked.

“I’m fine,” assured Sakura. “And thank you for getting me groceries. The insurance company left me a message that they’re going to just write me a checque for the car. They’re arranging for a rental for me for the next few days while they finalize things with the police.”

“Fine, but if you need anything, just call.”  
“Promise,” said Sakura.

While her kettle boiled, Sakura replied to her e-mail and paid several bills online. Her week in hospital had started her year off on poor footing and she counted herself lucky that the accident hadn’t been worse. She had just poured her tea when she heard the knock at her door.

Being very careful, Sakura checked the window by the door and paused when she saw who it was.

“Are you stalking me,” asked Sakura, opening the door to see Madara standing there with a bouquet of flowers.

To her surprise, his expression softened. He reached down and pulled up the sleeve of his jacket and shirt.

Sakura blinked and looked down at her own arm again.

“May I come in and explain?” asked Madara, offering the flowers to Sakura.

Her shoulders sagging, Sakura backed up and allowed Madara in.

* * *

  
  


“Why do we have the same scar on our arms?” asked Sakura.

They sat at her kitchen table. Madara had helped Sakura fill a vase with water for her flowers and set it on a windowsill in her kitchen. Each drank tea, and a plate of cookies was shared between them. Neither had taken a bite.

“Some consider them soulmate marks,” said Madara. 

“That’s…”

Madara looked at Sakura knowingly.

“Mikoto noticed our marks matched. She became quite panicked that I would do something inappropriate.”

Sakura shook her head. “I was eighteen, and besides, you were barely around.”

“Only for special occasions,” said Madara. “But she became obsessed with it thinking it meant something. She went off at me one night. We were shouting at each other and I left. It was icy.”

Sakura stilled, the coldness seeping through her slowly.

“It was New Year’s Eve,” continued Madara. “My BMW spun out on the ice. It went over the edge, into the ravine—”  
  
“And into the lake,” murmured Sakura.

Madara looked up at Sakura and nodded.

Sakura lifted a hand to her mouth as her skin went cold. She remembered that night.

* * *

  
  
“No, I need to see for myself,” said Sakura.

“Okay, it’s okay, we’ll go see,” agreed Ino, looking at Sasuke in the passenger seat.

Tight-lipped, Sasuke glared out the windshield as they drove to the frozen lake.

“There,” said Sakura pointing. She could see the scar in the ravine where her car had plummeted over the edge. It was a kilometer away but the damage was obvious, broken trees and branches, overturned rocks and exposed roots torn up by her car’s descent. The recovery team, with cranes, divers and towing equipment, were on shore trying to drag Sakura’s car from the lake. Their breath fogged in the icy air and Sakura wondered how the divers were able to function in such frigid conditions.

“Something’s going on by the water,” said Ino, squinting.

Sasuke watched the divers’ hand signals then saw the emergency crew return to the tow truck and start pulling out another 1-ton hook and line. 

“… There’s another vehicle down there,” said Sasuke quietly as a diver submerged below the lake’s surface into the icy water once more.

Sakura’s smile was bittersweet.

“It’s a BMW,” whispered Sakura.

Ino looked at Sakura curiously while Sasuke stared at her in disbelief before a muscle in his jaw ticked and his exhale came out harshly.

* * *

“Empty?” asked Sakura.

Her grip tightened on her coffee mug, Sakura stared at the screen in the physician’s lounge at the hospital where she worked. A newscast had footage of the old BMW being pulled from the lake.

“They aren’t sure what happened to the driver. It looks like he may have been ejected from the car at some point,” said one of Sakura’s colleagues. “They said it’s been under the lake for at least a decade. They’re going to organize a search in the spring to see if they can recover his remains.”

“… keep looking…”

Setting her shoulders, Sakura hurried to her locker to get her phone.

“Sasuke, is your dad there?… I need to talk to him.”

* * *

  
  
They parked the car by the side of the road and got out.

“You’re sure this is what you… were thinking of?” asked Sasuke.

Sakura nodded as she and Fugaku exited Fugaku’s police cruiser. The driveway was overgrown, but the small cottage surrounded by pines was exactly as Sakura remembered.

Fugaku pulled out his badge and went to knock on the door while Sakura and Sasuke waited by the car.

After a moment, an old man came to the door and after a quick introduction and flash of Fugaku’s badge, he invited Fugaku inside. Sakura bit her lip as she and Sasuke got inside the car again to wait it out.

An hour later, Fugaku left the house and joined Sakura and Sasuke in the car again. He started the engine and turned on the radio.

“Obito,” he said, as Sakura and Sasuke leaned in to listen. “Re-open the Uchiha Madara case. It’s a missing person case, not a suicide.”

* * *

It was later in the afternoon and Sasuke had brought Sakura home and joined her inside for coffee. They sat at her kitchen table. Sakura forced herself not to react when Sasuke sat in the same seat Madara had chosen when he had visited her.

Sakura poured over her mental notes from that afternoon, based on what Fugaku had passed along to them (at their insistence).

“Madara made it out of the wreck, he made it to the cabin, and the old man looked after him until the spring?”

Sasuke nodded.

“And then he disappeared in the spring before the old man could help him,” said Sasuke. “He said Madara had amnesia. The storm had knocked out the power lines and he was off-grid anyway, so he was just waiting for the roads to open again in the spring to see if he could get Madara some help. But then Madara was gone.”

It was beyond frustrating for Sakura. Every time they got close to another clue, something sidetracked them or threw them off-course again.

Sasuke looked up at Sakura.

“Madara is the one you saw, isn’t he?” said Sasuke. “When you were…”

Sakura looked away. 

“Who knows what I saw,” said Sakura.

“What else did he say? Where else did you see him?”

At that, Sakura shifted uncomfortably in her seat. 

Sasuke’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve seen him since.”

Looking to her kitchen window, Sakura stared at the flowers that continued to bloom in their vase. Keep looking.

What else had he said, thought Sakura, worrying her lip.

“When I was in the hospital,” began Sakura. “He was there. He said I was missing the obvious, that I was practically right on top of it.”

“At the hospital,” repeated Sasuke.

Sakura nodded. Then she jumped up in her seat, her eyes wide, her coffee splashing from her cup onto the table. She grabbed Sasuke’s arm and started dragging him to the door.

“We need to go to the hospital.”

* * *

The minute they got there, Sakura flashed her badge and swiped an all-access pass for Sasuke from the nurses’ station.

“Put this on and act like you’re… you,” sighed Sakura, barely resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

“You were going to say ‘important’,” said Sasuke, smirking.

“Come on. We’re going to find out if my badge gives us access to the long-term ICU,” said Sakura, leading Sasuke to the elevators.

Sasuke followed Sakura, not asking any questions until the elevators closed behind them. They were alone.

“ICU?” he asked.

“Long term intensive care unit,” said Sakura. “And text your dad. Ask him to have someone on the force call our admin office and ask about John Doe-s who were committed in the spring, ten years ago.”

“Not the winter,” said Sasuke in realization.

Sakura nodded.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened.

Sakura swallowed as she read the sign on the wall.

“Long-term ICU, to the left,” she said cheerfully.

Inside her chest her heart fluttered madly and she wondered if she was about to be sick.

“Are you alright?” asked Sasuke. His eyes narrowed. “You’re really pale.”

“I’m fine, c’mon,” said Sakura, swallowing down her bile.

“You don’t look fine,” said Sasuke, tight-lipped.

Sakura ignored him and pushed through the doors of the ICU. It was one of the quietest wards Sakura had ever visited, and the lack of activity immediately set Sakura on edge. Then again, the majority of the patients there were not expected to recover. They were comatose.

The nurses looked up and Sakura forced a smile and flashed her badge. Several nurses looked at each other, then at Sasuke, who followed Sakura’s lead and flashed the temp badge.

“Can we help you?”

“Looking for a piece of equipment with a particular setup,” said Sakura. “A nurse from peds suggested we try down here since we wouldn’t be bothering anyone… as much.”

“Let us know if you need any help finding it,” said one of the nurses.

“Thank you.”

Sakura and Sasuke looked around.

“Where do we start?” asked Sasuke.

A ping in Sakura’s heart pulled her feet forward before she consciously thought of it. She turned to the hallway on the right and started walking.

Sasuke followed with his usual, “Hn.” 

Together they peeked into each room of beds, often with six to eight beds each. None of the names matched what they were looking for, and the patients were much older. But something inside Sakura told her to keep going to a particular part of the ward. Soon she was skipping doors.

Sakura’s pace picked up the closer she got to the one door she wanted until she was jogging, her hair loosening from its knot the more she hurried.

“Sakura… Sakura!” called Sasuke as Sakura shoved her way through another door.

“He’s here, I know he is,” said Sakura, not looking back.

“Sakura, you’re setting yourself up for…”

Sakura had stopped at the next doorway and pushed it open. Inside lay six drape-enshrouded beds. Sakura approached the first and pulled back the curtain. These beds were all labeled ‘Doe, John’.

“Doe, John - One,” read Sasuke as Sakura stepped inside.

Sakura shook her head, moving to the next.

“Doe, John - Two,” read Sasuke.

Sakura shook her head again, moving on. She skipped the next two before pausing before the next bed, her hands shaking.

“Doe, John - Five,” read Sasuke. “Date of admission… March…. Ten years ago.”

But Sakura had peeled back the curtain and stepped inside, coming to stop beside the man who hadn’t aged in a decade.

The man who had, laughing, a decade before, kissed Sakura at his family’s New Year’s Eve party as the clock struck midnight, and been caught by his half-sister, who had thrown him out.

“Madara,” whispered Sakura.

With a small sigh, Sakura took Madara’s hand and sat down on his bed. 

“I told you I’d find you anywhere,” said Sakura. She smiled down at Madara, who lay there comatose, brushing his hair from his too-pale forehead. 

“Shit,” breathed Sasuke, watching Sakura and Madara.

Without another word, Sasuke walked back out into the hall and called his father.

* * *

“According to the nurses, he had been found wandering at night and was looking for sakura trees for a birthday party,” said Sasuke, reading part of the Patient Log to Sakura. Once Sasuke’s family had arrived to investigate and arrange for a change in care for Madara, the hospital had released a copy of the patient records to Fugaku and Mikoto, Madara’s next of kin. They, in turn, had provided the notes to Sakura.

Now Sasuke and Sakura sat in a small waiting room off the main ICU ward, reviewing the patient history together.

“He didn’t know his name, just kept asking for sakuras,” read Sasuke.

Sakura’s smile was weepy as she listened to Sasuke.

“Are you okay,” he asked for the hundredth time.

“Just give me the damn—”

“You’ll just cry on it,” said Sasuke coldly, holding it out of Sakura’s reach.

Sakura swore at Sasuke but he ignored her.

“They said it was only after he was admitted to the hospital that his delirium got worse. They think it was his head injury. He was temporarily sedated while they performed a few tests… uh… brain scans, right?” 

Sakura pulled the papers closer and nodded. “MRI.”

“And they determined he had a massive concussion. They sedated him to give his brain a chance to heal.”

“Then what?” asked Sakura, when, a moment later when Sasuke didn’t continue.

Sasuke’s brows drew together. “It’s just routine maintenance notes since then. His doctor changed a little bit after the MRI, and it looks like the new doctor just kept doing what the old doctor did… I don’t see any more examinations. Take a look,” said Sasuke, passing the full report to Sakura.

It was then that Sakura noted the slim quality of the file. For a patient who had been in constant care for a decade, it was disturbingly thin.

“They never woke him up after his MRI,” realized Sakura aloud after less than a minute of reading.

Then Sasuke watched the frantic shaking of Sakura’s hands as she slammed the papers down on the waiting room coffee table. Her teeth were bared and her green eyes were furious and wild.

“They never read his file, so they never woke him up!”

* * *

“This should be checked with his primary physician!” said the first nurse.  
  
“The primary physician has been dead for nine fucking years!” snarled Sakura.

“Then it should be reviewed with a new attending!” said a second nurse.

“I just did,” roared Sakura, turning on them like a demon in search of fresh blood.

At Madara’s bedside, Sakura had personally rolled over a care tray and begun calculating and adjusting the medications in Madara’s IV drip.

“I called Ino and Hinata and Tenten. They’re arranging for a physiotherapist, rehabilitation therapist, and massage therapist to come in starting,” Sakura glanced at her phone, helpfully propped up on the medical utensil tray. “Like twenty minutes, give or take. I already arranged clearance for them, and badges.”

“You know, he may still not wake up,” said Sasuke. It was genuinely gently delivered, but Sakura was hellbent on starting. 

“Or maybe he’s been stuck on his back for ten years, hearing everything that was said around him, feeling trapped in his own body,” snapped Sakura. “This is Madara. He is getting up as soon as he wakes up, and that means as soon as he damn well pleases, which means right fucking now.”

“With that in mind,” said Sasuke calmly. “Have you thought about how angry he is going to be about losing ten years?”

“Not my problem,” said Sakura curtly. She adjusted his IV and added another medication to it. “There. Now it’s a matter of waiting for this to filter into his system while the last of the bullshit filters out. It’s a wonder his kidneys didn’t fail with all this crap,” she muttered, looking over Madara’s patient chart. “By the way, Tsunade texted me back. She’s having a pair of independent medical auditors brought in to review all the patient files for the ICU ward patients. She wants to make sure no one else fell through the cracks.”

Sasuke looked at Sakura shrewdly. “So you want Madara out of here before the circus comes to town.”

“Exactly.”

Sakura leaned forward over her phone and set a stopwatch, then a timer. Then she stared at it, crossing her arms and legs.

Sasuke waited a full two minutes before asking, “Why two?”

“The stop-watch to see how long it takes for us to get a response. The second to time the periods between tests,” answered Sakura.

Sasuke nodded. “How about the one that tells you when to go to bed?”

“No sleep, just results.”

Sasuke’s brow furrowed. “I think you should get some rest. You’ve been up for almost forty hours.”

“No.”

“How about a shower?” said Sasuke.

Sakura’s eyes snapped up to Sasuke, who gave Sakura a level look.

“… You keep spare scrubs in your locker.”

“I’ll be back in an hour. Don’t. Move,” ordered Sakura, standing.

Sasuke let out a low breath through his nose as Sakura stalked from the ICU ward to the staff change room.

With a glance at the ceiling for luck, Sasuke took a seat in the chair Sakura had abandoned and looked over at his uncle.

“She waited for you for ten years, you bastard. You better remember her when you wake up,” muttered Sasuke. 

With that, Sasuke propped his feet up on Madara’s bed, crossed his arms, and decided he could rest for a few minutes while Sakura went to get cleaned up.

* * *

The next bit was a bit muddled for Sasuke.

He remembered going to sleep in Madara’s curtained-off part of the ICU ward. He remembered Sakura returning and yelling at him. He remembered his feet being shoved off the edge of Madara’s bed. He remembered Sakura yelling at him some more for falling asleep, and then Madara yelling at him for getting dirt on his covers, and then Sakura yelling that Madara was right, and then Sasuke had to move out of the way because Madara and Sakura were yelling at each other, and then they were holding each other, and then Sasuke had to leave really quickly because Sakura said something along the lines of, “You know that thing we talked about that night but couldn’t do?” and Madara said without a pause, “Yes,” and Sakura said, “Well I’m legal now.” 

“And that’s when you left?” exclaimed Ino that night, across from Sasuke at the coffee shop.  
  
“Yes,” asserted Sasuke, still a bit unsettled.

“Damn,” said Ino, leaning back in her seat. “Ten years of waiting. Could you imagine how much they must have wanted to just rip each other’s clothes off—”

“I don’t need to hear this right now,” interrupted Sasuke.

“I mean, and Madara was just trying to be a gentleman back then by avoiding Sakura until she was of legal age—” continued Ino.

“Ino—” said Sasuke quickly. “I don’t need to be reminded of—”

“But Sakura had decided that she was going for him. She knew what she was doing when she grabbed his belt that night at your New Year’s party when the lights went out and copped a—”

Sasuke’s knuckles paled on his cup as he stared at Ino with over-wide eyes, desperately begging her with his eyes to Please Stop.

Sasuke was saved by the vibration of Ino’s phone from her purse. As Ino read the text, Sasuke took a fortifying swig of his coffee and tried to forget the last two hours of his life.

“That was Sakura. She said she’s going to be busy for the next few days,” said Ino. “Do you think three exclamation points are too much for a ‘Congratulations on finally getting to bang your ex-sugar daddy’ message?”

Sasuke spat his coffee across the table.

“So about right then,” said Ino, hitting Send.

* * *

That night, at Sakura’s home, Sakura rested her head on Madara’s shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her.

“Took you long enough,” he murmured, falling asleep. It had been a long and vigorous evening, and they would no doubt both need massage and physiotherapy in the morning from it, but they were happier than they had been in over a decade.

“I could finally hear you,” said Sakura, tucking a lock of Madara’s hair away from his face. 

“Hn? Hear me?” mumbled Madara.

“Mmm,” said Sakura. “Your whispers in the dark.”

* * *

  
  
**_THE END_ **


End file.
